Marks 64C

[M Penta]

Been driving the 356 regularly, took it to work again today. Finally got around to washing it, and discovered more "garage rash". Of course no one knows how it got there...

I park it in my shop or in poll shed when I need to work on something, always lots of stuff in and out, kids, bikes, etc. They know to be careful around it, but stuff happens. Pic is after I touched it up. The car always seems to show well in pics, but believe me the paint is not great! It was repainted in the 80's and shows lots of little bubbles and seems to flake off pretty easy when dinged. Plenty of small scratches touched up, etc.

I am seriously considering doing body and glass out paint next year, which will take me about a year. I would do body work my self and have it painted professionally. I have done my share of body work (does not need very much), but not good enough at painting. I do know a really good paint shop about an hour away whom I would trust. The chrome shows some age but I will reuse it, probably just replace front and rear glass seals. I go back and forth on it, the car deserves nice paint, but then I need to have a different storage plan. I also may end up being afraid to drive it too..

Anyway, it is running pretty well and I had a nice drive in on some back roads 40 miles to work today. I did not want to stop driving when I got here, whereas when I take the van I am ready to get out of that thing!

[Doug McDonnell]

Touch it up and enjoy it. It would be a shame to make it so pretty you wouldn't drive it. You can always make it pretty when the kids are gone and it is safe from routine mishaps of life with kids.

[M Penta]

Good point, thanks for the voice of reason. The cat too - always going on the roof and sliding off it when it is out in the poll shed (going after the bird that poops on it). I put the cover on it a lot, but pretty hard to do every time.

Yea, maybe I am not ready for nice paint, especially with the dirt road I live on.

OK, that will save me a lot of time and money.. back to leaving the paint alone..

[M Penta]

Took the Porsche on a nice tour with my 13yo son on Saturday. We took the scenic route down to the Mt Okemo Hill climb and caught up with some old friends. Always tough to go to these events as a spectator! When I got home I went straight down to my boneyard to assess the 83 GTI shell I have not done anything with...

Short vid from Okemo: https://www.facebook.com/jayduchin/vide ... cation=ufi

Other then engine and transmission oil change, I have not done anything to the 356 this season. There is always a list of 'wants', but it is running well and I love driving it just how it is. Planning to take it to a car show this weekend at Shelburne Museum.

I have been busy working on the van lately, did a disc brake swap and front axle rebuild which took longer then expected. I had to buy new wheels to fit over the disc brakes. Now it looks the part so time to think about the 273 V8 swap..







Look forward to working on the 356 again. Next items are new abarth style exhaust, engine mounts and rear bushings.

[M Penta]

I went down to the Limerock historic festival again this year, this time just for Saturday race day and brought my youngest son. It was a long day but we had a great time and the car did great. We got to take a couple of spirited parade laps which my son really enjoyed.

This year was dedicated to Bugatti, it was apparently the largest gathering of vintage Bugatti's ever assembled and was quite impressive.

There were probably 12 or so 356s there, got to meet some owners including a guy from VT who I have never met.

Other then oil changes and maintenance, I have not been working on the car much this Summer. Before leaving I replaced some throttle linkage ball pivots and synched the carbs again. I also swapped out the distributor since it had a fair amount of end play and was hard to time (kind of bouncy). The new distributor works great and timing is right on now. Really made a big difference! There are some things I would like to do, but too many other competing projects at the moment.

[M Penta]

Took my wife out to lunch for drive your 356 day (also her Birthday). Beautiful day and great back road driving.

[ryan base]

mucho bueno

[M Penta]

Thanks Ryan!

I just returned from my first ECH in OCNJ. It was a great experience and I am really glad I could make it. This was the longest trip I have taken this car on and it performed very well, however I did have a couple of minor issues:

On way there in NJ, the idle was hanging at times. A few blips of the throttle would get it back down, but it was a pain at the many toll booths in that busy area. The problem seemed to be sticking advance, which got better after popping the cap off and vigorously jiggled the rotor back and forth. Once I arrived in OC it was mostly "Healed" and it ran well for the remainder of trip.

On the way back I had the hood pop open 3 times, fortunately the safety latch worked! I did the best I could to fix it on the side of the GSP. It seemed to finally hold, but to be safe I stopped again and used my belt as a safety strap since it is not a fun thing to worry about!. After that I made great time doing 70+ all the way up the thruway to the back roads of VT. I encountered some light flurries in VT but fortunately the roads remained dry.

I hit a lot of traffic in CT on way down, so I cut across the back roads through Northern Westchester to 684 which was a nice detour. Despite the late schedule, I decided to continue on to the Simeone Museum as planned and arrived there for the last hour. It was well worth it, the collection is incredible and the 917 demo in parking lot had not yet started. Great way to start the weekend.

While in OC, I took a drive with 3 other cars down to Cape May. Perfect weather and great company. I met a lot of great people at this top notch event. Hope to see you all again.

[C J Murray]

Mark, I'm glad it was such a positive experience. Going through CT and metro NY in ANY car is a challenge.

[M Penta]

Spring is finally here and road is finally dry. Had quite a long mud season this year and a very wet Spring. Got the 356 out a few weeks ago after a few small projects: Hood latch is repaired, replaced a few throttle linkage parts, and most importantly changed the wheels! It had 5.5 spare tire wheels with 87 date code. These wheels look the same as early 5.5's, but they are actually quite different: They have a rather large raised dome at the lug holes, which takes up quite a bit of stud length. They also have a significant difference in offset, which is why my wheels were always so close to the shocks. I never did like the look of those wheels, but was not sure why - I was not aware of the offset difference until I compared them to some 68 912 wheels I had. I repainted the 912 5.5's and swapped the tires over. I am also using 5mm spacers all around (plenty of stud length with these wheels). The paint came out great and they look fantastic! Made a big difference in how it sits and is exactly what I was looking for. I had these wheels forever, and only now got around to comparing them.. I still have the original 4.5s, but no plans to install these at this point as I really like the look of the car with these 5.5's.

Next I am finally planning to rebuild the original engine. It will mean driving the old Jetta wagon another year or more, which already has 310K hard miles on it. How long can it possibly last? Time will tell... I just did some body/paint work on it and it actually is looking pretty sharp. This car has been an outstanding work horse and she deserves a mention!








I really need to find a license plate bracket, or just make something. The plate sits far to low when using the existing holes in body.


Above pics with set of 68 5.5s. The difference is clear when viewing previous pics.


Wheels removed - 87 spare tire rims with crappy paint. Look the same as early 5.5s, but some significant differences and glad to have them off!

I hate photobucket!

[Charles H Jacobus]

Looks Great, Mark. Enjoy

Chuck

[M Penta]

Hi everyone, long time no post. Not much to report here, the 356 is running well and driven often. The only work I have done to it recently has been to adjust link pins and also had to replace a front shock bolt. I have had the shock loosen up twice, and this time the bolt came out right as I pulled in to a PCA event. I removed the shock in the parking lot and took it on the covered bridge tour on 3 shocks. I did not even know this event was going on, it happened to be the next town over from where we hold our little cars and coffee. I was the only 356 there and they really rolled out the red carpet for me. I am not a member of PCA, but had a nice day with the local chapter and really should join.

Today I went up to Wolfsgart, a pretty big German car show in Burlington. It is more of the tuner scene, but some really impressive cars there. This year I did not enter the 356 but drove it up there and it was a great day. I am just enjoying this car so much.

I finally installed a small lift in my shop. It is a Max Jack M6 and works well with the 9' ceiling in my little shop. I lifted all of our vehicles with it, from the 356 up to my Wife's Jeep. It took quite a bit of measuring/planning to have it fit all vehicles in the limited space.

Also finally got this boat project done - Its a 68 Hydrodyne that I got for free. I have done a ton of work to it over the last 6 mos, finally in the water and running/looking great! We just use it to do some occasional fishing and tubing/skiing with the kids.

[Doug McDonnell]

Mark You must be missing these on your shock bolts: https://www.stoddard.com/64434358100.html.html Cool boat! It reminds me of the boat my friend had in the early 60's I learned to water ski behind it.

[Vic Skirmants]

I think they are there, just rotated up in the wrong position?

[M Penta]

Thanks Charles, Doug, Vic,

Yes Vic, I guess they are in the wrong position, did not give it much thought when I installed them. I staked down the tabs securely, and was really surprised how those things want to loosen.

Doug, I took my kids water skiing for the first time today. I also went for the first time in like 30 yrs, and I even dropped a ski and went slalom! I did have a few bad falls though that I will be feeling tomorrow. The boat is running well, it was satisfying to have her pull me on skis after all that work. I was not sure the 65 merc would be up to it, but it does the job just fine on that little boat. I'd like to tow it behind the van, but that long 1st gear on the boat ramps probably not a good idea. The guy who gave me the boat said he just wants a pic of it behind the van.